It has long been known that routers and other types of electric cutting devices can be used for making signs and the like of uniform, attractive appearance, with such an operation being enhanced by the use of selected guide letters. In a typical instance, a router is incorporated into a movable, supported assembly, with a stylus being employed in operative association with the router. A substantially fixed distance typically exists between the tip of the stylus and the cutting tip of the router, so that by the operator grasping the stylus and tracing around recessed portions of the guide letters, the router is caused to undertake similar if not identical motions with respect to a workpiece clamped adjacent the assembly, and thus prepare a sign having letters or numbers of uniform appearance.
The Edwards U.S. Pat. No. 3,301,287 teaches an arrangement of this general type, in which parallelogram linkages are utilized for supporting the router and stylus. Although able to be used satisfactorily for a number of purposes, suffers from several disadvantages, including intricacy, expense, and inertia forces, but most particularly, a considerable setup time is necessarily involved in the use of such a machine.
From the standpoint of utility, I prefer a sign making apparatus more nearly resembling that taught in the Wormser U.S. Pat. No. 3,171,207, which utilizes a table across the back of which a horizontal bar of considerable length is mounted, and along which bar, a router assembly is slidable. The router is mounted so as to be movable with respect to the bar in a fore and aft sense, at the behest of the operator. However, I have found that the Wormser type of device, which utilizes a counterbalanced router assembly, is generally tiring to use, but most importantly, it emulates the earlier prior art devices in requiring that certain hand tools be utilized in the mounting of the workpiece and the guide letters, and necessarily involves an arrangement in which a number of measurements are necessary in order that the letters cut in accordance with the guide letters will be symmetrical, and disposed in a centered, attractive arrangement on the workpiece.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of my invention to provide a routing machine of non-intricate construction, adapted for the rapid production of signs and the like, that involves the use of no tools for workpiece or guide letter mounting, and entails only short setup times when using standard lumber sizes, while making possible the creation, even by one not highly skilled, of signs that are accurate, precise and attractive.